


Love in a Bottle

by Smuklouis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Gryffindor Harry Styles, Hogwarts AU, M/M, Slytherin Louis Tomlinson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 05:34:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17461577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smuklouis/pseuds/Smuklouis
Summary: Inspired by the prompt:Hogwarts!AU where Harry and Louis are enemies who have potions class together. One day they're brewing Amortenia but Louis doesn't know because he gets to class late so when he does arrive he starts laughing because "oi Styles! You're brewing your own cologne that's so lame" and the whole class is like "what" and Harry is like "what"





	Love in a Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> Hey friends!  
> This is my first ever fic I've written so please be nice. I've had this prompt laying around for a few years now and I'm sure someone else has written for it aswell since it's a good prompt. I tried my best and I hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> (I can't find the original post for the prompt, so if anyone has it, please message me so I can credit them)

Everything is blurry when Louis opens his eyes. “Ugh” he groans while turning around in bed. “Zayn” he whines. There is usually an answer after a few seconds, but this time the silence is consistent. Louis repeats himself a few more times, but with no luck. He pops up his head from his pillow and looks around the dorm room. The green colours of the Slytherin dorm rooms are always more vibrant than usual in the morning. Thank God Louis’ favourite colour is green. Looking around the room always gives Louis a feeling of disbelief. His life was pretty uneventful before he got his Hogwarts letter at age 11 and being here 6 years later still fills him with the gleeful feeling he experienced when first seeing Hogwarts.

“Zayn, you prick! What time is it?” Louis threw his pillow at Zayn’s head in the bed next to him, but there is still no response.

“What the…” Louis finally looks at his alarm clock on his bedside table and feels his stomach drop. He is late again! He jumps out of bed and grabs his trousers.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Louis chants while jumping on one leg trying to get his trousers on. When fully clothed, he grabs his wand and runs for his life, cursing Zayn for not waking him up in time. This is the fourth time this month which really was not supposed to happen. Professor Slughorn is gonna have his balls this time!

 

 

“Hello Class! How are you all on this lovely morning?” Slughorn exclaims when everyone is in their seats. Harry lifts his head from his arms and yawn quietly. He doesn’t like potions as much as he used to. Not only because it is at 8 in the morning, but also because this year the classes have been really difficult. Usually he is excellent at potions, but the difficulty of the coursework is so demotivating. However, the classes can still be loads of fun, depending on which potion they are brewing. There are not a lot of students in this class, which also makes the classes a bit easier since Slughorn has more time to help each student. The number has fallen since Slughorn last year made Outstanding the minimum grade for continuing potions. There are a handful of Slytherins and Ravenclaws, one Hufflepuff and two Gryffindors, Harry and his mate, Liam. Unfortunately, Louis Tomlinson is one of the Slytherins.

Harry and Louis have been rivals of some sort, since they both joined their houses’ quidditch teams. Harry is the great keeper of the Gryffindor quidditch team and Louis is the annoying chaser of the Slytherin team who sometimes aims for Harry’s head on purpose. Louis still denies it to this day, but Harry knows. The rivalry quickly slipped out of the quidditch arena and into their daily lives at Hogwarts. They prank each other, shout rude words at each other across the dining tables in the great hall, jinx each other. Then there was that one incident where Louis slipped a stink bomb into a first year’s bag who then brought it into the Gryffindor common room. A spell made the smell stay for days after it went off. After that, students not only in Gryffindor and Slytherin, but also in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw know about the rivalry between Tomlinson and Styles.

Harry turns around to see if he can spot the mop of hair that is Louis terrible haircut but has no luck. Harry turns back around and smirks.

“Looks like we are missing some students again.” Slughorn says while pointedly looking towards the group of Slytherins sitting by the table near the back wall. Harry snorts and nudges Liam, who is sat beside him.

“Looks like Tomlinson just lost 20 points to Slytherin again.” he mutters and sits back in his seat satisfied.

“Serves him right for that jinx he threw at me yesterday.” Liam scoffs. Harry and Liam had been walking down the hallway when they had bumped into Louis and his fellow Slytherin, Zayn. As expected, Louis had to poke fun at Harry’s hair, which lead to an all-out argument that just sounded like two 10-year-olds trying to prove their father is the strongest. When these incidents arise, Liam and Zayn usually stand on the side trying to judge when to step in. They have talked a bit during them and they do now consider themselves friends. However, this time their conversation carried them away, which resulted in a jinx hitting Liam instead of Harry. The spell made a mess of Liam’s hair and he ended up having to go to the infirmary.

“I’m still sorry about that, you know,” Harry whispers while trying to follow what Slughorn is saying. “I know I should have protected myself instead of jumping out of the way.”

“It’s okay Harry, it was Louis who did it, not you.”

“Yes, I know, but it was my fault he did it.”

“Quiet down now everyone!” Slughorn exclaims. “I think you young people will be very interested in the potion we are brewing today. Why you may ask? Well, the potion will help you with something most people at your age are trying to figure out. Can anyone guess it?” He asks and looks at every student for an answer. Harry wracks his brain for an answer but is not quite sure what Slughorn means.

“No one? What a shame!” Slughorn turns to the board and start writing. “It is a love potion, of course! It's called Amortenia and if you give it to the person you desire, you will find that, that person will desire you. But mind you, the potion wares of, so it is not a permanent solution to your love lives, unfortunately. Wouldn’t that not just make life too easy?” Slughorn chuckles and starts explaining how to brew it.

“I think that was it. Oh, I forgot to mention, do not use a love potion with the intent of it making your love life easier. As a mentioned before, the effect wares off over time depending on how strong the potion is, but it does not create love. No one has been able to create real love in a potion. It is more of an obsession than love, which I can testify to… is not a good idea to play around with…” Slughorn finishes while staring off into the distance as if remembering something of his past. Everyone looks at Slughorn, waiting for further instruction. He slightly shakes his head and looks around.

“What are you waiting for? Get brewing!” he says while turning around and busying himself with a stack of papers he has lying on his desk. The students start finding the supplies for the potion.

Liam starts pouring the powdered moonstone in the kettle while Harry is chopping the peppermint leaves. The content of the kettle turns green after Harry adds the chopped peppermint.

“Wouldn’t it be fun if we ‘accidently’ snuck some extra peppermint leaves into Tomlinson’s potion if he decides to show up, just to see if it blows up in his face like last time?”

“Aren’t you guys tired of fighting each other. It has almost been 4 years.” Liam says while stirring the kettle. “It always ends in someone getting hurt, and I am tired of being that person all the time!”

Harry sighs. His and Louis’ fight has really turned into something ridiculous over the years. Harry has to stay on guard when walking the hallways, and the quidditch games between Gryffindor and Slytherin are more violent than usual. But for some reason Harry could not imagine his life on Hogwarts without the fights. Harry likes it. It gives him something to look forward to every day. And Louis deserves it, in Harry’s opinion.

“Okay, it seems like most of you guys are getting the hang of this potion. Now, while you’re all stirring your kettles, I will tell you something I find very interesting about the potion.” Slughorn says on his way up to the board in front of the class.

“When the potion is finished, you will all be surprised by how good it smells. That is because it will smell like something or someone you love, so it will, of course, smell different to everyone. Isn’t that fascinating?” he exclaims while looking around at everyone.

Harry turns to Liam with a grin.

“Uuuh Liam, wonder if yours is gonna smell like that girl, what’s her name?”

“Sophia...” Liam mutters with a blush on his cheek. “I’m not in love with her, mate. I haven’t even spoken to her more than a few words exchanged in between classes among other people!”

“Yeah, let’s see about that.” Harry says while watching Liam doing the last few stirs clockwise.

Harry wonders what the potion will smell like to him. Harry hasn’t been in a relationship since he broke up with Cara, a nice girl in Hufflepuff who he dated for 6 months in his fifth year. It was nice dating Cara but Harry always felt like he was missing something. His relationship never felt like how it is described in muggle movies and books. This resulted in Harry breaking up with Cara, because he didn’t think it was fair to her. Harry felt bad about that break up the rest of his fifth year, but when he started his sixth year and saw Cara had started dating Ashley, another Hufflepuff in their year, he felt less bad.

“Harry?” Liam’s hand is waving in front of his face and he realizes he zoned out.

“Sorry, I was just thinking. Are we done?”

“No, we need to add the rose thorns and stir three times clockwise and two times anti-clockwise.” Liam gestures to the small bowl of rose thorns.

“Oh yeah sorry!” Harry rushes to get the bowl and slowly adds the content.

When harry empties the bowl, a bang is heard in the back of the classroom. Thinking it’s just someone who fucked up their potion, Harry doesn’t really mind it until he hears a: “Sorry I’m late, Professor!”.

Smirking, Harry looks over his shoulder to see Louis running in with messy hair and his tie untied, hanging around his neck. Harry tsk’s and turn to Slughorn, waiting to hear Louis’ punishment.

“Mr. Tomlinson, this is the fourth time this month and I must say, I’m very disappointed. I say this not only as your Professor but also your head of house,” Slughorn says with clear disappointment in his voice. “But since the theme of this lesson is love, I’m giving you another chance to better yourself!” He smiles and continues, “You are gonna help me clean up in the ingredients later tonight, which means I’m only gonna take 10 point from Slytherin instead of 20. And don’t look at me like that, I’m doing you and the house a favour.”

Harry watches in disbelief as Louis shoulders sack and he sighs in relief.

“That’s so not fair!” Harry whisper-shouts to Liam in outrage. “If that was any of us, we would have lost at least 30 points!”

“Let it go, Harry.” Liam answers while stirring the kettle for the last time. The potion is now bright pink, and it smells amazing.

“Boys, you did it! Look over here everyone! The two Gryffindor wonders have done it again!” Slughorn exclaim excitingly to everyone as he is stood at their table. Harry hears a snort from the back and catches the end of a massive eyeroll from Louis.

“Nice work boys, 10 points to Gryffindor each!” He says and backs away from the table. “Now everyone, hurry up, we don’t have all day.”

Liam and Harry high-five and wait for the rest to finish up.

“What do you smell Liam?” Harry asks while he himself tries to figure out what he is smelling.

“I’m not quite sure… It smells a bit like wood if you know what I mean?” Liam says in wonder. “And something sweet.”

While they are talking, Louis walks past their table to get more ingredients and on his way back he laughs and almost shouts “Why are you guys brewing Harry’s cologne? That is a whole new low, even for you, Styles.” Louis is still laughing when he walks past them, and Harry is about to shoot back with a dumb remark when he stops himself and realizes what is actually going on here. Harry turns around and gapes at louis. Louis sits down with a satisfied smirk until Zayn whispers something in his ear. His smirk falls quickly, and he goes pale. “Oh god” he whispers.

“Well….. this is awkward.” Slughorn says while looking between them. “And that is a great example of why you should be here on time Mr. Tomlinson.”

Louis is red as a tomato now, and students around the room are snickering. “I need the loo.” Louis says quickly and runs out of the classroom without a single glance at Harry who is still sat gaping. Liam is laughing loudly by his side.

“I fucking knew it!” says Liam almost choking on his laugh.

“Whaaa…” Harry says dumbfounded.

“Oh, don’t act so surprised, Harry. How could you not have seen it?”

“What? No this has got to be a prank, we hate each other!” Harry tells himself. Although, the potion does kinda smell like…

Harry stands abruptly “I need the loo.” He says on the way out of the classroom. Right before the door closes, he hears a few students ‘ooh’ at his back. Harry cringes and walks to the bathroom.

 

 

 _‘This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me’_ Louis thinks as he powerwalks to the bathroom. How could he be so stupid? But if he has to be honest with himself, he hadn’t actually realized his feelings himself, or rather, he hadn’t let himself think about it too much. Louis had always known there had been something about Harry. Louis has caught himself watching Harry across the great hall waiting for him to smile his big smile or do his weird frog face a few times. He has never admitted it to himself because when Harry would catch him watching, he would just flip him off and pretend like he hadn’t lowkey watched him for the 10 minutes he had been there. It’s easier for Louis to pretend that he hates Harry than confront his feelings and question his sexuality, which Louis has been doing ever since he saw Harry at their first quidditch match. And now this happens. Louis rushes into one of the stalls and locks the door behind him. He sits on the toilet seat and puts his head in his hands.

“For fuck’s sake.” He whispers. When Louis is questioning all of his life choices for the third time, he hears the door to the loo open and a guy walking in. Louis is sure it’s Zayn who here to ask him if he’s okay, but he can’t deal with anyone right now.

“Please go away Zayn, just let me drown in my own embarrassment!” he shouts and is surprised when he hears a quick intake of breath and a small “Louis” from behind the door.

“Oh, this is great, isn’t it!?” Louis shouts and unlocks the door. He takes quick steps towards Harry.

“If you’re here to make fun of me, go ahead! I don’t care!” Louis almost shouts in Harry’s face.

“I’m not here to make fun of you, I just kinda didn’t think you would be in here…” Harry trails off and looks down at his shoes.

“But I said I was going to the loo, Harold?” Louis says in a strained voice, trying to lower it because of how close they are standing. It is hard for him to not shout in Harry’s face when he is this dumb!

“Why did you never say anything?”

“Say anything? Do you think I’m stupid?!” Louis starts pacing the bathroom.

“You would use that information to humiliate me like you are probably gonna do now!” he says and stops in front of Harry again. “So bring it, I don’t care.” He repeats with his head down. When he gets no answer, he looks up into Harry’s face.

Harry is just looking at Louis while chewing on his bottom lip. Louis follows it with his eyes and feels himself flush as a result of the intense stare Harry is giving him.

“Stop looking at me like that…” he trails off with a blush on his cheeks. He looks down again trying to hide it. “Can’t you just fuck off and leave me alone for once, Harry?”

“But Louis I-“

“No Harry! Can we just pretend this never happened? I hate you and you hate me, it’s as simple as that.”

“How can I just pretend like this never happened?” Harry runs his fingers through his hair frustrated, making his hair stand out. He looks like a madman, Louis thinks. “And even if we did, everyone in that classroom will never let it go, you know.” Harry exclaims and starts fidgeting with his tie.

Louis hates to admit it, but Harry is right. There were at least 10 people in there and what happened will soon be common knowledge among every student on Hogwarts. Not to brag, but their feud is kinda popular around the school, and right now Louis regrets everything. Why was it again that Slughorn decided to have them brew Amortenia on one of the few, yes few, times Louis was late for class? And of course Louis had to comment on the smell. He would never waste an opportunity to humiliate Harry but somehow that ended up humiliating Louis more than ever. It’s fucking karma. He knew this feud was going to come back and bite him in the arse, but this is just too much.

“Whatever..” Louis sighs and turns away from Harry. “Yes, I might be slightly in love with you and I know you don’t feel the same, so can we just not talk about it again and go back to hating each other?”

 

 

Harry is at loss for words. Knowing Louis’s Amortentia smells like him is different from having Louis actually admit to him that he is in love with him. What is he to do with this information? It’s not like Harry hasn’t thought about Louis in that way. Everyone can admit that Louis has the most amazing arse and after a few dreams focused on said arse, Harry couldn’t not pretend he hadn’t thought about it. But love? They are supposed to be enemies, God damnit! How can they get past that? Having this rivalry with Louis has been the best part of Harry’s time at Hogwarts. Which, wow. It really has been the best thing. He has never admitted that to himself. Seeing Louis every day, pranking him and the other Slytherins, the anticipation of being pranked back. Had he really confused love for hate this whole time? How is that even possible, not even he is that thick.

“We can’t just ignore this.” He says. He grabs Louis’ shoulders turning him around, so they are facing each other again. Louis tries to turn away, but Harry keeps his hands on his shoulders to keep him steady. “Talk to me…”

“And say what?” Harry tries to catch Louis’ eyes, but he won’t look anywhere but his shoes. “I already admitted that I love you, what else do you want me to say?”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know and why does that matter? Are you just trying to make me boost your already oversized ego?!” Louis is finally looking Harry in the eyes. “Let it go Harry! I’m already humiliated enough as it is, I don’t need you going around telling everyone about how long I’ve be-“

Harry kisses him. He had to shut him up, and kissing him seemed like the only way to do so since he never listens to him anyway. Kissing Louis is weird. Not because he is Louis but because he is just stood there frozen, not kissing back. Harry panics and pulls away.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry, oh my god, I wasn’t meant to scare you! I just thought…” He waits for Louis to do something but he is still frozen, staring intensely at the knob of Harry’s tie. Harry opens his mouth to apologize again, but it's stopped by Louis finger making a ‘shush’ motion on Harry’s lips.

“Shut the hell up, you tosser.” he says and gets on his tiptoes to reach Harry’s lips and they kiss again. This time the kiss is better. They are both kissing each other, and Harry can’t do anything but focus on how soft and lovely Louis’ thin lips are. When Louis tries to pull away by going down to his original height, Harry follows him and moves his hand to the back of Louis’ neck to pull him closer. Louis sighs into the kiss and wraps his arms around Harry. His fingers starts doing tiny circles up and down Harry's back, and his heart flutters. It never did that with Cara. Maybe Louis was what Harry was missing.

They keep making out until they have to pull away for air. They put their foreheads together and breathe in each other’s space.

“What now?” Harry asks out of breath.

“I don’t know, whatever you want.” Louis says equally out of breath.

They grin at each other and continue kissing each other. When it starts getting heated, there is a knock on the door and Liam’s voice cuts through the tension.

“Are you guys in there? Please tell me none of you are dead, that would be too big of a mess to clean up.” His voice is muffled by the door.

“No one is dead, but you soon will be if you don’t leave us alone!” Louis shouts to the door. Harry hides his face in Louis neck, giggling. “Be nice to Liam, he has never done you anything.” He says in between giggles.

He starts planting small soft kisses along the side of Louis’ neck, and Louis buries his finger further into Harry long curls. They almost forget Liam is waiting for them until there is another knock on the door.

“Although I would love standing outside the bathroom threatening people with loss of point for trying to use the loo, I would very much like to keep my prefect batch, so if you guys could hurry up, it would be lovely.” He says louder this time. Zayn’s laughter can be heard clearly along Liam’s small giggles. Louis sighs loudly.

“I guess we have to get out at some point.”

“Yeah…” Harry pulls away from Louis and starts fixing his clothes and hair in the mirror. Louis does the same and when they make eye contact in the mirror they smile shyly at each other.

 

 

Louis can’t believe this just happened. He had imagined this happening a couple times, but he never thought it would happen. When he looks at Harry in the mirror again, he can’t do anything but smile and he gets the familiar flutter in his belly that he would sometimes feel when he had seen Harry smile at his friends. But this time it doesn’t make him panic. However, when Louis finishes, he moves away from the mirror and gets a sudden anxious feeling in his stomach.

“Harry?”

“Yeah, Lou?” Louis starts fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt.

“What is this to you?” Louis looks up to see Harry looking at him with a confused expression. “I mean, I told you that I loved you and you just answered by kissing me…” He trails off looking down again. “I know it might be a stupid question considering what just happened, but this is not a joke or a prank to me, and I need to make sure it’s the same for you.”

Louis is surprised to be ingulfed in a tight hug by Harry who puts his mouth by his left ear. “Louis for fuck’s sake, of course this isn’t a game to me. Having you admit your feelings to me, made me realise my feelings for you, and I am willing to do anything to make this work. I want to be with you so badly, and I’m so sad we didn’t figure this out much sooner than this.” he whispers.

Hearing those words from Harry means so much to Louis and he buries his face into Harry neck. Louis is surrounded by the familiar smell of the love potion that started all of this, and he could never be more thankful to Slughorn for making them brew it than he is right now. He swears to never be late for potions ever again. A third knock interrupts their moment again.

“Uhm hello? Did you guys find a way to apparate out of there?” Liam asks. Louis can feel harry shake with laughter and Louis pulls away so he can see it aswell. Seeing Harry this happy can’t do anything but make Louis smile. “Let’s get out of here.” Louis says while taking Harry’s hand, so they can leave.

This has got to be the best moment of Louis’ life. Walking out of the bathroom with Harry’s hand in his after they just made out until they lost their breaths. Amortenia cannot create real love, but Louis thinks he and Harry’s story might just be the exception.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> If you liked it, please give it a kudo. It would be appreciated :)


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